


It Was Probably The Sparkling Water

by Olivehide



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Rated Teenage for Language, THIS IS MY FIRST FIC ABOUT THESE GOOD BOYS, Tony Stark Has A Heart, im gonna write more on them as soon as i cann
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olivehide/pseuds/Olivehide
Summary: In which Stark offers to help Peter out with something minute, and it spirals into something a little bit heartfelt.“But- won’t it be like - suspicious? You. Me-” Peter brings his fingertips together, their relationship hard to put into a category. Comrades? Friends? Baby and Sitter?“I don’t know what’s so suspicious about a selfless billionaire taking time out of his day to support a very good intern and his prospective scientific career”





	It Was Probably The Sparkling Water

Tony pours himself a glass of sparkling water.

  
“But - But Mr Stark-“

  
“No no - _you_ need to focus on the whole designing-a-piece-of-tech-to-impress-the-big-science-wigs part of the sitch, and I’ll think about what kind of humble clothes I could pull off to fit in with the other- parental attendees”

  
“But- won’t it be like - suspicious? _You_. _Me_ -” Peter brings his fingertips together, their relationship hard to put into a category.

_Comrades? Friends? Baby and Sitter?_

  
“I don’t know what’s so suspicious about a _selfless_ billionaire taking time out of his day to support a very good intern and his prospective scientific career” Tony flops onto the leather sofa and spreads his arms, settling his glass on the side table. He’s been smirking for a good ten minutes since the whole dialogue began.

  
It was during a check-up slash ‘mild tweak’ of the spidey suit that Peter mistakenly let slip his nerves about the upcoming Midtown Science _Presentation Day_. Naturally, Stark being the science activist that he was, just had to get himself involved.

  
_“Like, I know it shouldn’t matter where I go for college or whatever. No matter what, I’m gonna be Spiderman anyway so-“_ Peter had said, around fifteen minutes ago, _“-but, man, it’s MIT. I just- I wanna impress them. I wanna make Aunt May proud”_

  
It was at this point that Tony offered up his services, to attend said presentation as his, quote- unquote, _boss_. Ten minutes into the animated discussion and Peter is still trying to steer him away from the idea. They had, thus far, exhausted the topic of the press coverage, the potential (and ludicrously theatrical) enemy threats that could befall the school with such a high profile Avenger in its mitts, and of course the crippling embarrassment on Peter’s part.

  
“It’s a showcase-thing for college-scouts and _parents_ ” Peter stresses, spinning on his heels every few seconds to explore another direction of the lab rec-room. He attempts to sit in the lounge chair across from Tony, but jumps back up, needing to walk the debate to its conclusion.

  
“Like, I’m thankful for everything you’ve done for me, _really_ Mr Stark, but,”

He turns to Tony, a sudden softness in his eyes,

“you’re not my…”

“ _Yes_ , I’m not your pops. However, me being your makeshift guardian, I feel obligated to- “

He waves his hand, elaborating,

“-intervene and support”

“But May said she-“

“As much as your Aunt loves you kid, she doesn’t need to sit through a bouquet of nerds talking about science. That’s a 'me' kind of thing. _I_ can talk them down, then talk _you_ up, and you can be grateful. It’ll be fun. Well, fun for me; a fun, bonding activity”

 

Peter sits in the lounge chair, partially resigned, and allows himself to breathe out a smile. He runs his fingers through his hair.

 

There’s a beat.

 

The beeps and whirrs of the lab next door seem to get a little louder.

 

Then Peter looks at Tony with a new uncertainty.

_Doubt?_

 

“Do you _really_ want to do this stuff, Mr Stark?” He says.

Tony frowns, bringing his glass to his mouth.

“I mean, I’m saying you don’t have to - you know - get involved.”

Peter’s eyes dart to the floor, and he wrings his hands together.

“Coming to my _decathlon_ competitions, flying me to LA for that movie premiere… You’re- I know you’re a really busy guy, and you should know that- “

He swallows,

“…you don’t have to waste your time on stupid stuff like this”

Peter’s eyes have settled on a small bump on the carpet, and he’s squeezing his arm uncomfortably.

 

The shift in tone is palpable.

 

“Kid”

 

Peter is quiet.

 

_“Kid”_

 

Tony drums his fingers on his glass.

“Why’d you think I asked you to come to Germany?”

Peter shrugs. As teenagers are prone to do, Tony has discovered.

 _Christ_. He sighs, huffing his shoulders at the teen’s lack of self-esteem.

He speaks softly.

“If I wanted some extra guns, I’d have called in my sentry suits”

He puts down his glass and leans forward. “Easy call, they don’t need any orders to do their job, fight won, right?”

“Yeah” Peter mumbles, because he feels like he should.

“But I didn’t need guns- didn’t _want_ any more guns, I wanted _you_. Specifically - you.”

 

Peter looks up at that, and the shine in his eyes is hard for Tony to linger on.

 

“You-“

He jabs a finger at him,

“-you got something that none of us have.”

He brings a fist to his chest. Realising he’s going to look back and cringe at how fatherly he’s being right now. The most genuine he’s been in a long time. _The kid deserves genuine._

“You got _heart_. A young, _good_ heart. You don’t see the Avengers as a _problem_ or a _danger_ \- hell, I’ve seen the bed sheets. You see us as heroes. Even now. _After_ New York, _after_ Sokovia. And, well, I thought that little pinch of bright-eyed good could sway the fight-“

Peter’s looking down again, but Tony knows he’s listening, and he _knows_ this is all going to go straight to the kid’s head, but for some reason, he’s got more to say.

“-And it worked on some part. From what I saw, Cap seems to love you; _God_ , Wanda and Natasha want to adopt you. Bruce wants to study you- but that’s neither here nor there- he shows affection in his own Brucey way. The point is- you’re not a gun. You’re a teenage kid on the cusp of his life, and- I care about that; About _Peter Parker_. Not just Spiderman. Not this _idea_ in red and blue spandex. You’re a fifteen year-old _human_ kid with _human_ -sized problems. And there's no harm in asking for help."

Tony squeezes his knee, surprised at himself. He shakes up his shoulders, looking at the wall behind the kid as he continues to ruin his stoic, sarky reputation.

"So I _will_ be attending this science-jerk-off with all the MIT suits that are _far_ less intelligent than you or I, and I’m going to embarrass you. I’m going to tell them how you always bring me my coffee, always fold my linens, and _always_ do your homework on time. And of course I’ll mention briefly that you’re IQ is, frankly, hilariously high, and they’d be testing the stature of the American education system if they didn’t accept you. Anyway, my lab is always open if college doesn't work out- I'm pretty sure you're scrawny ass can fit a little desk in here somewhere”

 

Tony breathes in. Maybe the sparkling water has gone to his head.

 

 _God_ , it feels like he’s opened a tap and all his sincerity’s come gushing out into his hands; vulnerability was not on his agenda today.

 

Then he looks back at the kid and _shit._

 

He’s crying.

 

_Fucking Hell, Stark._

 

_Leave it to you to make a good kid cry._

 

The teen, of course, immediately starts apologising.

 

“Sorry -“ Peter’s hands fumble over his face, rapidly wiping his eyes with the heels of his palms.

“Ah- Sorry- shit-“

It takes a lot of Tony’s strength _not_ to laugh. It’s a fail-safe of his. See, he can deal with world-ending light beams in the sky, and exploding buildings, and aliens with weapons even _he_ can’t comprehend.

But crying teenagers takes the cake.

“ Sorry Mr S-S-Stark- I-“

“Kid. You’re ruining our moment”

“Sorry-“ Peter chokes out a laugh.

“ _Jesus_ , of all the kids I could take under my mechanical arm, I get Tommy Pickles”

Tony laughs too, a genuine one, and the room relaxes.

Cracking jokes is another fail-safe of his, and one Tony knows he could never bury; it’s practically found an affordable home in his DNA.

Tony claps his hands with a _‘moving on’_ kind of authority.

“ _I_ say we sweep that whole sincerity contest under a metaphorical rug” He says, slightly apprehensive, slightly awkward.

“Mm” Peter nods, bringing his knees up to his face to hide how red it’s gone.

Tony finishes off his sparkling water and looks at the ice cubes at the bottom.

 

“You want a juice box or something?”

 

* * *

 

Ten minutes pass, and they’ve relocated to the lab.

Peter is nestled on a leather lab chair, nursing a cup of sugary tea; Dum-E is still holding the spoon in its grapple. Tony is back to refining the last bits of code in the kid’s suit, and the healing tones of Dave Brubeck are playing on some ridiculously nice sound system.

 

A new kind of relief settles in Peter’s mind.

 

It had always been difficult for him to decipher what he meant to Tony Stark. Was he just a passion project? A temporary dabble in the whole _sidekick_ gimmick?

Sometimes Stark called him up just to check in, other times he didn’t contact him for months; this kind of spontaneity was part of the reason Peter felt so _distant_ from him, personally.

Ned had joked about Peter being Ironman’s _surrogate-son_ ; that maybe he wanted to try his hand at being a dad without the commitment of the real deal. Peter never dared to think like that. 

 _He can drop me whenever he wants_ , Peter had thought more than twice. As if _he_ could get in contact with Tony if he ever decided to let him go; it took months to even get Happy to respond to him after that first job in Germany.

The thing is, Peter _knew_ Stark wasn’t the sentimental type; his shtick was charm, and jokes, and sarcasm, but it still rubbed him the wrong way that he’d never once tried being  _real_ with him.

But now it seemed he’d chipped a fraction of that iceberg.

 

“So it’s on the 20th” Peter murmurs. “-the presentation thing, I mean”

He blows on his tea, still somewhat embarrassed about the events of the evening thus far.

“Uh huh, I know” Stark says, nonchalantly, still typing.

Then he swivels to face Peter, all serious.

“You know I am constantly keeping tabs on your life, underoos” He says, but his straight face worms into a smirk.

Peter smiles into his tea cup.

“Cool, cool” He says, and there’s a comfortable beat.

 

Then, over the soft ambience of the jazz music, over the whirring orchestra of machinery humming around them, over the _clack clack clack_ of his fingers pecking at the keyboard, Tony hears a small teenage voice.

 

“Thanks Mr Stark”

 

And Tony thinks, as Peter’s suit glows softly receiving its handful of new code, that he really doesn’t deserve this kid.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh BOY I haven't wrote any kind of fanfic in years but this was so fun!! Also I fucking love Peter and Tony's relationship man it's all I've been reading recently.  
> There's a lot more scenarios I wanna play out with them in focus, so I'm going to try to write as often as uni work and bar tending allow.  
> Thanks for reading my dudes.  
> xx
> 
> (ALSO COMMENTS GIVE ME FUEL, SO BY ALL MEANS LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!)


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